Great for Gazza, great for the toon! - 24/02/2003

Great for Gazza, great for the toon!
Hat-trick hero!

I’m really made up for Gazza, there’s been so much written about him – most of negative, and I bet a lot of those responsible were very sceptical of his latest contract in China. It was even reported that he hadn’t even returned there and in fact, that he was ‘drying out’ in The Priory! So he’s proved a few people wrong and long may that continue.

To adapt to a new culture isn’t particularly easy, and in playing for a new team in a new league, I thought he’d need a few games to settle. How wrong can you be? For the team to get off to a win is good, to score is better, but to get a hat-trick in a 3-0 win is just fantastic! I also heard that one his goals, a free-kick, was a classic Gazza strike – just wish I’d been there to see it. I bet Paul’s got a buzz from his debut – perhaps something football hasn’t given him for a while. It’ll encourage him and I’m sure he can’t wait for the next game.

I’ll be watching out for him and wish him all the best. I enjoyed my visit to China last year and I’m still in contact with Douglas Barrett of the British Consulate in Shanghai. You never know, I could be making a future trip to China and if so, I’ll be buying a ticket to see Gazza play!

It was quite ironic that Newcastle should match Gazza’s result with the 3-0 win at Leeds. Make no bones about it, Leeds may not have played well, but Newcastle still had to go to Yorkshire and get a result. Although Leeds have struggled this season, their recent form is pretty decent and there’s always a bit of a passion between these two clubs, so to win so convincingly is a great achievement. Once again we kept a clean sheet, and after all the media focus on this area of the team, isn’t it nice for the that the defence can turn around and answer their critics with a great stat: no other Premiership team has kept more clean sheets than Newcastle!!!

It’s Chelsea next at St. James, a game that’ll be very tough. I’ll be giving you my thoughts on that game later in the week.

Cheers,

Bez


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